The sound mirror at Abbot’s Cliff, between Folkestone and Dover in Kent, is one of the easier ones to access, being alongside a footpath.
Some photos taken on 3 May 2003.
![[Front view]](/images/mirror/abbot05.jpg)
The mirror from the front.
![[Back view]](/images/mirror/abbot03.jpg)
The back of the mirror, with a tree growing in it.
![[View towards Folkestone]](/images/mirror/abbot04.jpg)
Looking towards Folkestone Warren.
![[Small square building]](/images/mirror/abbot01.jpg)
The small square concrete building visible in the view towards Folkestone. Inside it has a concrete pillar with a metal rod (pivot?) in the top. I would guess it had some sort of military use. The top of the mirror can be seen to the right, where the cliff top is slightly lower.
![[A sign saying 'Caution - Cliff Edge']](/images/mirror/abbot-sign.jpg)
Mind the gap.
Location
![[View towards Dover]](/images/mirror/abbot02.jpg)
The Abbot’s Cliff mirror is at grid reference TR27083867, between Folkestone and Dover. It is very easy to find, simply follow the tarmac path along the cliff top, and you can’t really miss it (it is a great big block of concrete, after all!). It is a five to ten minute walk from the Folkestone – Dover road.
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Art
The Abbot’s Cliff sound mirror appears in Bombing the Channel Ports, a 1941 watercolour by war artist Eric Ravilious.
“Bombing the Channel Ports”, © IWM (Art.IWM ART LD 1588)
More
News and updates about the Abbot’s Cliff sound mirror.
I used to live in the house just below the Abbotts Clifff sound mirror. The field next to it was a carpet of cowslips every spring,and I wonder if Vipers Bugloss still grow down the sides of the cliffs. Haven’t been back since the new road was put in…..too many memories would be gone.
This is the SM featured in the BBC3 show “Back to life”, by Daisy Haggard. Check it out.
Are the searchlights shown in the painting on ships? Or is that Dover? Or maybe France?